What is a common result of depletion of non-renewable resources?

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Common results of non-renewable resource depletion include more hunger, higher food prices and expansion of slums. The overriding reason for these problems is that companies need these non-renewable resources in undeveloped nations and make land grabs to obtain mining resources or timber. These land grabs displace populations, cause pollution and create hazardous conditions, according to Monthly Review.

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One major reason for non-renewable resource depletion is population growth. As more people inhabit the Earth, more resources are needed to sustain a rapidly rising population. Even resources such as fresh water are becoming scarce because so much of it is used for huge agricultural and industrial processes.

Another result of non-renewable resource depletion is that technology moves extraction operations to areas that are more sensitive to environmental damage. One Canadian company has a 20-year agreement with the government of Papua New Guinea to mine copper and gold 25 miles off the coast of that country. Hydraulic fracturing has become the norm for places like the United States even though the resources extracted by 'fracking' are hard to reach, according to Resilience.

Global economic contraction is due to happen when non-renewable resources become scarce. As many as 23 non-renewable resources are likely to be in a permanent shortfall by 2030 due to scarcity and population growth. These shortfalls may have devastating effects on the global industrial economy. Some resources like gold, aluminum, copper, cement, nickel, natural gas and oil were either "extremely scarce" or "very scarce" in 2008 as Chris Clugston's study shows on Resilience.org.